Quality of Life and Depressive Symptoms in Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implementation Patients-A Cross-Sectional Study

Quality of life is an important factor influencing mood. In any group of elderly people undergoing valve implementation or surgical aortic valve replacement, one in three will have depressive symptoms. The aims of this study were as follows: 1. to evaluate the impact of health-related quality of life on depressive symptoms in elderly patients undergoing TAVI, and 2. to analyze beliefs about TAVI. Methods: A total of 131 elderly people (mean age: 82.1 ± 6.1 years) scheduled to receive TAVI completed the Geriatric Depression Scale, EQ-5D-3L, and Mini Mental State Examination. A total of 43 patients completed the questionnaires after the treatment. The narrative interview analyses were performed based on 20 randomly selected patients after TAVI. Results: The mean level of general depression before TAVI was 4.19 ± 2.83, and after it was 3.12 ± 2.52 (p = 0.02), and the frequency decreased from 20% to 3%. An increase in the level of activity and number of interests and a decrease in life satisfaction were identified. The higher the general quality of life was, the lower the levels of depressiveness before and after TAVI were (r = 0.26 vs. r = 0.48; p < 0.05). Conclusions: Patients differed in their depressive symptoms, as well as their intensity and frequency, before and after TAVI. These results underscore the importance of screening for depression at baseline and reassessing changes in depressiveness during follow-up.